I continue to make original music, YouTube videos, and animated GIFs. I have a Patreon right here.

What hardware do you use?

My computer is a PC with an Intel Core i7 920 2.66G, 12GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA Quadro K2000 graphics card. I built it myself a few years ago based on a guide for an editing rig. My main monitor is a 23-inch Samsung SyncMaster. For the sound card, I have an M-Audio Delta 1010lt, which has all its inputs and outputs hanging out the back of the PC like spaghetti. I feel like a serious hacker when I plug anything in. On my desktop, I have a Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speaker system and Audio-Technica ATH-M50 headphones.

For recording MIDI, I have a M-Audio Axiom 61 key controller. For recording audio, to avoid computer noise, I have a bundle of 25-foot cables -- monitor, USBs, audio -- running to a separate room where there's a second monitor, keyboard, mouse, a Marshall MXL V67G condenser mic going through a PreSonus TubePRE for vocals, and some older junkier Creative computer speakers. I also have a Behringer AMP800 on my desktop to quickly patch audio output between the two stations. (And the Win-P key to switch screens quickly.) For a laptop I have a 15-inch Toshiba.

My camera is a Canon EOS 7D. I bought it when DSLRs were an
exciting new concept and it's served me really well. I never use the stock lens, but I have a Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8, Sigma 24mm f/1.8, and a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 which seem to work for what I shoot. I use knockoff batteries, and Kingston 16GB memory cards (the ones I have seem to be discontinued.) My tripod is a Manfrotto 701HDV head on 055XPROB legs, which have a neat feature for pointing the camera straight down at the floor which can come in handy for things like animation. I have a wall with a green screen pinned up. For lights I usually just use cheap clamp lights.

For portable audio recording I use a Zoom H4n digital recorder, and a Rode NTG2 shotgun mic. When I'm filming myself, I attach a Lilliput 7-inch LCD monitor and flip it forwards. I have a cheap Fender Squier guitar, which I usually plug directly in to use with amp sim software. I have tons of little instruments and synths, an electric violin from a yard sale, and maracas from Aruba with Bart Simpson painted on them. I carry Moleskine reporter-style notebooks, which are nicer when you're left-handed, and a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. I share an Epson R2000 printer with my wife, who's a comic book artist, and we both make large art prints to sell at conventions and the like.

And what software?

Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit. I make my music in Cakewalk Sonar X3 Producer. I've been using their software since I was a kid. My dad's a guitarist and he always had a version installed, so I learned on that. Most instruments and effects I use are VST plugins. Toontrack EZdrummer for drums, Kontakt for high-quality sample packs, and freeware like Synth1 for most synths, Fretted and LePou's guitar amp sims, and much, much more... There's a huge amount of useful and fun plugins out there, and many are free. Oh, Celemony's Melodyne pitch correction, maybe. Adobe Audition for mastering and various audio manipulations.

I browse with many tabs open in Chrome, and usually have an Incognito window open as a scratchpad for incessant Googling whims. I don't know how I worked before Dropbox or avoided headaches before f.lux. I replaced notepad.exe with Flo's Notepad2. I have most Windows system sounds turned off, and my desktop is blank white with "Show desktop items" permanently unchecked -- I access everything from pinned taskbar icons, or by clicking Start and typing the first few letters. My default media player is still Windows Media Player, or VLC for trickier formats. I have iTunes but never, ever use it. At my wedding this year, I ran our whole playlist on Winamp.

I make system backups with Acronis True Image. I also keep backups of old hard drives dating back to the mid-90s, so I'll have those grade school book reports and extremely bad attempts at fiction with me forever.

What would be your dream setup?

The one I've got is cobbled together in a sloppy, mismatched fashion, but I don't think any other kind will ever suit me. I work in all media, rarely focusing on one thing over the course of a day, so I like having everything I need on one system, and all my stuff within arm's reach. My dream setup would probably just be more stuff.